El Nino is here, could cause more damage depending on its strength this winter: NOAA

El Nino is here, could cause more damage depending on its strength this winter: NOAA

Subject :Geography

Section: Physical geography

• El Nino refers to the large-scale ocean-atmosphere climate interaction linked to periodic warming in sea surface temperatures across the central and east-central Equatorial Pacific. It is associated with high pressure in the western Pacific.
• El Nino, the warm phase of a recurring climate pattern associated with the warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, has arrived, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
• El Nino occurs every two-seven years. Its impacts can be felt far and wide. The climate pattern is known to cause severe droughts over Australia, Indonesia, and parts of southern Asia and bring rainfall in parts of southern South America, the southern United States, the Horn of Africa and central Asia.
• El Nino adversely impacts the Indian monsoons and hence, agriculture in India.
• El Nino was expected to strike this year. In May 2023, the World Meteorological Organization predicted that there was a 60 per cent chance of an El Nino during May-July 2023. The likelihood, it added, could further rise to about 70 per cent in June-August and 80 per cent between July and September.
• Also, May 2023 was statistically tied as the second warmest May on record globally.
• La Nina, a climate pattern associated with the cooling of surface-ocean water along the tropical west coast of South America, ended its three-year-run in 2023.
• El Nino could cause more warming. The hottest year on record was 2016, during a particularly strong El Nino.
• El Nino adds some extra heat to the atmosphere, it’s possible that Earth’s rising temperature will temporarily exceed the 1.5°C threshold of the Paris agreement sometime after the peak of El Nino in 2024.
• La Nina, a climate pattern associated with the cooling of surface-ocean water along the tropical west coast of South America, ended its three-year-run in 2023.